Buddy Check: Pam McCabe's Story

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY -- Pam McCabe knew something wasn't right whens he felt a lump in her chest in July of last year.

"I didn't have any breast pain, but I had pain down my arm," recalls McCabe.

It was a tumor, sitting on a nerve.  But she didn't go for a mammogram until December.  And in January of this year, when Pam was just 40, she was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer.  It reached her lymph nodes and liver.

"He told me it's not curable, but treatable, but I wasn't ready for that," she said.

Pam had a lumpectomy, went through chemotherapy, and now takes oral chemotherapy.  She recently went back to work.

"I like my normal activity, go to work, do the things at home, do the stuff with the kids, said Pam.

She and her significant other have two sons -- Jordan is 20, and Nick is 10.

"It just seems like a shock, because i didn't see it coming," said Jordan.  "I try not to think about it at times, because it does get to you."

The community is helping the family, too.  Just last weekend, they held a fundraiser to raise money to cover medical costs.  They say the support is amazing.

"She's tough. That's pretty much it. She's emotionally tough, so that, and we have a lot of family members who care about her," added Jordan.

Pam encourages others to take breast self-exams more seriously.

"You think it won't happen to you, and that's what I thought," she said.

Now, Pam says she doesn't fret over the small stuff, and she encourages others to be grateful for their health.

"If I had a million bucks, and I was sick, I'd give the million bucks back just to have my health."